When we hear the phrase 10 notorious medieval gangsters, images of modern street crews rarely come to mind. Yet the Middle Ages were teeming with ruthless families, outlaws, and power‑hungry courtiers who ran their own shadowy empires. From crafty bandits stealing royal jewels to noblemen who turned rebellion into a lucrative side‑business, these ten characters proved that crime was as much a part of medieval life as chivalry and cathedral building.
10 Notorious Medieval Gangsters Unveiled
10 The Waraunt Family
Some criminal crews were nothing more than a tight‑knit family trying to stay afloat in a harsh world, and the Waraunts epitomized that model. Four siblings—Matilda, Margery, Richard, and a brother—joined forces with an additional male relative, forming a little clan that repeatedly slipped through the justice system while amassing a modest fortune by medieval standards.
The earliest record dates to 1321, when three of the siblings—Matilda, Margery, and Richard—were accused of receiving stolen goods. They escaped punishment, and the fourth sibling faced a similar charge later that year. While the exact value of the loot remains unknown, the family’s criminal streak continued unabated.
The turning point arrived when John Waraunt was convicted of stealing clothing and household items valued at eight shillings. To put that in perspective, a laborer in 1331 earned roughly three pennies a day; twelve pennies made a shilling, so eight shillings equaled about a month’s wages. John was hanged for the theft.
Undeterred, the remaining Waraunts kept pilfering. In 1325 they were imprisoned for allegedly stealing cloth worth 60 shillings, yet they avoided conviction despite the threat of forte et dure—a brutal form of torture. They were acquitted of a 32‑cloth theft in 1326, and later that year two sisters were cleared of a 40‑shilling accusation. By the end of their recorded saga, the family had pilfered the equivalent of over a year and a half’s wages and largely escaped lasting punishment.
9 Malcolm Musard
The first mention of Malcolm Musard appears on 13 February 1296, when he and several companions were caught trespassing in a royal forest while en route to join the king’s Scottish campaign. Likely in his early twenties, this incident marked the beginning of a life spent skirting the law.
Following his father’s death in 1300, Malcolm inherited lands in Worcestershire and quickly turned his sword into a profit‑making tool. By 1304 he and his gang were hired to assault a rectory, a line of work they would repeat for years. Accused of “many felonies, robberies and homicides” in the early 1300s, the group fled Worcestershire, only to be pursued again in 1316 when the king ordered an inquiry into Malcolm’s “diverse crimes” across Worcestershire and Warwickshire. He received a royal pardon in 1318.
Malcolm’s criminal career continued: arrested in 1323 for allegedly aiding the Marcher Lords’ rebellion, he was released in 1326 and formally pardoned for all outlawry in Worcester. Yet the pattern persisted—when Queen Isabella deposed Edward II in 1327, she ordered his arrest for theft, only for him to be freed again after Edward III’s 1330 pardon. His story illustrates a relentless cycle of crime, capture, and royal clemency.
8 Fulk FitzWarin
Not every outlaw chose the path of crime; some were forced into it. Fulk FitzWarin found himself at odds with King John after the crown granted the Whittington estate to a Welsh rival, despite Fulk having paid £100 for it and his father having fought for the property.
Refusing to accept the royal decision, Fulk rallied his brothers—William, Philip, and John—along with tenants and ambitious knights in 1200, forming a 52‑strong guerrilla band against the crown. Declared outlaws, they persisted for three years, even confronting Hubert de Burgh’s 100‑man force. By November 1203 the king relented, paying Fulk 200 marks and restoring Whittington. Thereafter, Fulk resumed a respectable noble life, living until 1258 and later acting as a trusted mediator in Welsh disputes, demonstrating how a brief outlaw stint could segue back into aristocratic respectability.
7 The Folvilles
In medieval England, primogeniture meant only the eldest son inherited the family estate, while younger brothers often sought fortunes as knights or mercenaries. Some, however, turned to a life of crime. The Folville clan embodied this divergence. The eldest brother, John Folville, kept a respectable noble façade, but his younger siblings—Eustace, Robert, Walter, and Richard—formed a violent mercenary band that operated beyond the law, especially when family interests were threatened.
In 1326, after Baron of the Exchequer Roger de Beler threatened the family, Eustace led a 50‑man force to capture and kill de Beler on a road. A warrant followed, prompting the Folvilles to flee to Queen Isabella’s continental army, which was preparing to depose King Edward II. Their participation earned them a royal pardon after the successful coup.
Back in England, the Folvilles became hired thugs, targeting the lands of those who had wronged them, such as Henry de Beaumont. Their notoriety grew when they seized judge Richard Willoughby, ransoming him for 1,300 marks—a staggering sum—after he attempted to convict them. Aligning with the infamous Coterel gang, they roamed Derbyshire openly armed, threatening travelers and committing systematic extortion.
When Edward III needed warriors for the Scottish wars, the Folvilles were recruited, fighting the Scots between 1337‑1338. In return, they received a full pardon, allowing them to evade any legal consequences for their prior misdeeds.
6 John Fitzwalter
John Fitzwalter, a powerful Essex magnate and close kin to the de Clare family, exemplified noble privilege run amok. He treated Essex as his personal fiefdom, wielding enough influence that even royal justices hesitated to prosecute him.
His criminal résumé began in 1340 when he joined a gang that broke into John de Seagrave’s park, hunting and vandalising the property. Soon, Fitzwalter’s own gang engaged in cattle‑rustling, extortion, and the outright theft of merchant goods, while consistently refusing to settle debts or rents owed to others.
Tensions peaked when men from Colchester raided one of Fitzwalter’s parks, looted it, and killed a member of his retinue—likely a retaliation. In response, Fitzwalter mobilised his forces, manipulated juries, assaulted non‑compliant jurors, and laid siege to the town, using salvaged wooden beams as weapons and blocking all entry and exit routes.
King Edward III finally intervened in 1351, commissioning a peace commission to investigate Fitzwalter’s crimes. An arrest warrant led to his imprisonment in the Tower of London for a year and the confiscation of his entire estate. Though eventually released and granted a royal pardon, he was ordered to pay a £847 fine—an amount many lower‑rank knights would never earn in a lifetime. He dutifully paid the fine in installments until his death a decade later, marking the end of his notorious career.
5 The Despensers
The Despenser duo—Hugh the Younger and his father—were more than ordinary thugs; they were master manipulators who, at the height of their power, effectively controlled King Edward II. By exploiting their courtly positions, they bullied nobles, seized lands, and amassed wealth, prompting a civil war that ultimately toppled them.
In 1317 Hugh Despenser the Younger became royal chamberlain, a role granting him direct access to the king. By 1320 he was Edward’s closest confidant, second only to the queen, Isabella. With this influence, he began extorting lands and titles from nobles at an alarming rate, consolidating his family’s grip on power.
Their overreach alarmed the aristocracy, leading to open rebellion in 1321. The rebels demanded limits on royal authority and the removal of the Despensers. Their plea was crushed at the Battle of Boroughbridge, allowing the Despensers four years of unchecked rule.
During this period, Hugh and his father systematically abused royal authority: imprisoning opponents until they surrendered charters, steering the king’s favour against rivals such as Roger Mortimer, and monopolising the monarch’s audience—preventing even the queen from meeting Edward without Despenser presence.
Their tyranny sparked nationwide outrage. When Queen Isabella finally landed with an invading force, demanding the Despensers’ removal, Edward’s reign collapsed. Within two months, Hugh and his father were captured. The elder Despenser was gruesomely dismembered and fed to dogs; Hugh met a horrific end—hanged from a 50‑foot pole, forced to wear his coat of arms upside down, then castrated and disemboweled.
4 Adam The Leper
While many medieval bandits roamed the countryside, some targeted bustling towns. Adam the Leper headed one such urban gang, recorded on page 245 of A History of Crime in England. His crew learned that a merchant, employed by Queen Philippa of Hainault, was safeguarding valuable jewels in his London home.
Seizing the opportunity, Adam led his men to the merchant’s residence after dark, barricading the owner inside and demanding the jewels. When the merchant refused, the gang set fire to the house, reduced it to ashes, and absconded with the treasure regardless.
Beyond this dramatic heist, little else is documented about Adam. He appears to have evaded punishment, living another two decades, likely heading a street‑level gang that specialized in similar robberies—most of which never entered the historical record because they didn’t involve high‑profile victims.
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Roger Godberd is frequently cited as a possible inspiration for the Robin Hood legend. Operating around Sherwood Forest, he was indeed an outlaw, but his deeds differ markedly from the merry‑men of folklore.
Legal records show that Godberd once assaulted a tenant, Jordan le Fleming, forcibly evicting him from a ten‑year tenancy after just a year and seizing some of his belongings. He was also accused of poaching venison in Sherwood in 1264. By 1266, he had taken a charter from the convent at Garendon at swordpoint, then compelled the monks to sign a document absolving him of the theft. That same year, the king granted him a royal pardon, citing “good behaviour.”
Despite the pardon, Godberd continued his criminal career. In 1270 he was charged with robbery and, by then, led a band of outlaws in Leicester, Nottingham, and Wiltshire. He was imprisoned in Nottingham Castle but escaped with aid from a knight named Richard Folyot. Later, he faced trial at Bridgnorth Castle in 1275, presenting his earlier royal pardon as defense. Sources diverge on his fate: some claim he died in prison the following year, while others suggest he lived for another two decades.
2 The Coterels
The Coterel brothers—James, Nicholas, and John—mirrored the Folvilles in both era and geography, collaborating in the kidnapping and ransom of royal judge Richard Willoughby. Their lineage traced back to Ralph Coterel, a Derbyshire landowner.
Their first appearance came during the 1322 rebellion of the Earl of Lancaster, where they fought alongside his forces against King Edward II. As royal authority waned, the Coterels expanded, protected by the priors of Lichfield, rendering them virtually untouchable. By 1330 they had raided the estate of Henry Lancaster, a powerful royal relative, and were listed as wanted for murder.
In a surprising twist, Queen Philippa extended protection to James Coterel, even assisting him in purchasing land in 1332 despite his ongoing criminal ventures. When war erupted between England and Scotland, a royal commission investigating their crimes was abruptly halted. In 1338 the Coterels were summoned to join the king’s army in Flanders, a request they gladly accepted.
Their military service paved the way for a full pardon in 1351. By then, James served as a tax collector for Lenton Priory, while Nicholas held the position of royal bailiff. The final record of James notes a debt of over £100 owed to the Folville gang, but his exact date of death remains unknown.
1 Johnnie Armstrong
John Armstrong, better known as Johnnie, was a border‑land raider and nobleman who commanded two forts in the contested region between England and Scotland. From roughly 1520 to 1530, his organized gang terrorised settlements on both sides, extorting villages, stealing livestock, and torching homes when victims refused to pay.
Although his criminal record was extensive, Armstrong officially served as a vassal to the Scottish Lord of the West March, Lord Maxwell, who shielded him from English attempts at prosecution. Frustrated, English Lord Dacre led an expedition that burned Armstrong’s property at Cannonby.
Political pressure eventually forced Scottish Lord Angus to declare Armstrong and his men outlaws. While Angus struggled to muster an army against them, the tide turned in 1530 when King James V of Scotland, determined to purge banditry, lured Armstrong into a meeting and ordered his execution. Armstrong and his 24 followers were hanged, despite his pleas and promises to make northern English men pay their yearly rents.